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The document discusses the ideal operation of a ramjet engine. It explains that a ramjet cannot produce thrust when stationary and requires an initial acceleration to a high speed, such as from a rocket or being dropped from a plane. It then describes the three main components of a ramjet - the intake, combustion chamber, and nozzle. The ideal thermodynamic cycle is presented, where there are no pressure losses and equal total temperatures and pressures at the inlet and outlet, resulting in thrust generation from the difference between flight and exhaust speeds.

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80 views3 pages

Transmitted Without Publisher's Prior Permission. Violators Will Be Prosecuted

The document discusses the ideal operation of a ramjet engine. It explains that a ramjet cannot produce thrust when stationary and requires an initial acceleration to a high speed, such as from a rocket or being dropped from a plane. It then describes the three main components of a ramjet - the intake, combustion chamber, and nozzle. The ideal thermodynamic cycle is presented, where there are no pressure losses and equal total temperatures and pressures at the inlet and outlet, resulting in thrust generation from the difference between flight and exhaust speeds.

Uploaded by

whyfive
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PRINTED BY: SHANMUGANATHAN V.K <[email protected]>. Printing is for personal, private use only.

No part of this book may be reproduced or


transmitted without publisher's prior permission. Violators will be prosecuted.

on the compression of the inrushing air for its operation, or in other words depends on the flight speed, a 107
vehicle powered by a ramjet cannot develop static thrust and therefore cannot accelerate a vehicle from
the stationary position. The vehicle must first be accelerated by other means to a sufficiently high speed
before using a ramjet as a propulsive device. It may be dropped from a plane or launched with rocket
assistance.

3.3.1 IDEAL RAMJET


Ramjet engine as described above is composed of three modules (same as pulsejet engine), namely, an
intake or diffuser, a combustion chamber, and a nozzle. To analyze ramjet performance, the different
states of its three modules are defined here. State (a), standing for ambient, is far upstream of the
engine. Diffusion process takes place partly outside the engine and partly inside the engine. The first
part of diffusion takes place from the far upstream, state (a), to the engine entrance, state (1). The
second part of diffusion takes place inside the engine, from state (1) to state (2), where state (2) is at
the end of the diffusion section. Thus, the first module of the engine, the diffuser, is located between
states (1) and (2). Air then enters the combustion chamber at subsonic speeds. This is achieved by
either a normal shock wave or multiple oblique shock waves followed by a normal shock wave. Fuel is
next, injected as fine droplets, which mixes rapidly with the mixture and is next ignited by a spark. The
mixture then passes through a "flame holder" at state (3) to stabilize the flame and facilitate a good
combustion process. The flame holder may be of grill type, which provides a type of barrier to the
burning mixture while allowing hot, expanding gases to escape through the exhaust nozzle. The
high-pressure air coming into the combustion chamber keeps the burning mixture from effectively
reacting toward the intake end of the engine.

   The end of the combustion chamber is identified by state (4). Thus the second module of the engine,
combustion chamber is located between states (2) and (4). Combustion in general raises the
temperature of the mixture to approximately 3000 K before the products of combustion expand to high
velocities in the nozzle. Although the walls of combustion chambers cannot tolerate temperature much
above 1200 K, they can be kept much cooler than the main fluid stream by a fuel injection pattern that
leaves a shielding layer of relatively cool air next to the walls [10]. The expansion process takes place
at the third module of the engine, namely the nozzle. Expansion starts at the convergent section
between state (4) and the nozzle throat, state (5). The nozzle has next a diverging section that ends at
state (6). Sometimes state (6) is denoted by (e) resembling the exhaust or exit condition. Thus, the
nozzle is situated between states (4) and (6). The nozzle is shaped to accelerate the flow. Thus, the exit
velocity is greater than the free stream velocity, and thrust is created.

   The cycle of events within the engine (Figure 3.7) is described below. Here all the processes within
the engine are assumed ideal with no losses.

   For isentropic (reversible adiabatic) flow inside the engine, no pressure drop will be encountered in
the three modules of the engine, thus

(3.11)

   Moreover, since neither work nor heat addition or rejection takes place in the intake and nozzle, from
the first law of thermodynamics, equal total enthalpy (and thus total temperature) is presumed. Thus

Aircraft Propulsion and Gas Turbine Engines Page 1 of 3


PRINTED BY: SHANMUGANATHAN V.K <[email protected]>. Printing is for personal, private use only. No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted without publisher's prior permission. Violators will be prosecuted.

(3.12)

107
108
FIGURE 3.7 Ideal thermodynamic cycle for ramjet engine.

   Full expansion of the hot gases within the nozzle is assumed, thus

(3.13)

   The relation between total and static conditions (temperature and pressure) at the inlet and outlet of
the engine, states (a) and (6 or e) are

(3.14)

Aircraft Propulsion and Gas Turbine Engines Page 2 of 3


PRINTED BY: SHANMUGANATHAN V.K <[email protected]>. Printing is for personal, private use only. No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted without publisher's prior permission. Violators will be prosecuted.

(3.15)

   In Equations 3.14 and 3.15 (γa, γ6) are the specific heat ratios for air and exhaust gases respectively.
If we ignore the variations in fluid properties, (R, γ), then from Equations 3.11 and 3.13, we get

(3.16)

   Then from Equation 3.15, we have

(3.17)

or

(3.18a)

   The flight and exhaust Mach numbers are equal, but the flight and exhaust speeds are not. This
difference generates the thrust force. 108

Aircraft Propulsion and Gas Turbine Engines Page 3 of 3

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